The Short Order
The Short Order: Chef Spike Gjerde’s Guide to Baltimore
Baltimore? Believe it. Charm City’s most celebrated chef lets us in on the spots you’re missing, from the best place to split a pitcher of Natty Boh (it’s a B-more thing), to the old-school bakery where he got his start
1. Spro 851 W 36th St, 410-243-1262; sprocoffee.com
“There’s a great little coffee shop up on 36th, and I forget how it started, but I can order a ‘spikiatto’ there. The spikiatto is a single shot espresso and a single macchiato. I love a macchiato and he was burning the shot every time I got one. It’s nice to taste the pure espresso and then have the macchiato. I never got him to put it on his menu, but I’ve gotta work on that.”
Photo: via flickr
2. Grand Cru 527 E Belvedere Ave, (410) 464-1944
“A good friend of mine owns a wine bar that’s in Belvedere Market but not part of the big space. It’s a great place to sit down and have a drink. He does great small plates, cool cheeses, cool local charcuterie. We send him a couple things from time to time from the butchery work we do in the back.”
Photo: Courtesy of Grand Cru
3. Belvedere Market 529 Belvedere Ave, 410-464-9773; belvederesquare.com
“Belvedere Square is a cool spot that recreates the history of public markets—it’s sort of the private version. We usually shop at larger farmers’ markets for the restaurant, but Belvedere is a great place to shop for home. It’s got really great vendors. It’s a mixture of stuff you can take with you and stuff you can just pull up a stool at a counter and eat. I really love the guy that does soup there, Ned Atwater. He’s one of the other chefs in Baltimore that I think is pretty sincere and committed to local sourcing.”
Photo: Courtesy of Belvedere Market
4. Patisserie Poupon 820 E Baltimore St, 410-332-0390; patisseriepoupon.net
“Joseph’s been there since just about forever. I had just graduated from college and was back in Baltimore for reasons I’m still not really clear about, and Patisserie Poupon had just opened. I poked my head in and came back the next day with a resume that I had totally fabricated and exaggerated, and that became my first real cooking job. I think I was their first hire. It was just Eph and his wife running everything before that. If he was anywhere else, well…he’s a superstar. But he’s in Baltimore. Some pastry shops are kind of frozen in time, but that’s not the way he operates. Nobody does the classics better, but he’s always got something new, too. He is so good at what he does.”